Katherine Harris announced tonight that she will stay in the Florida Senate race. She made a committment to use up to $10 million of her inheritance to finance the run.

She has a long road ahead with a very uncertain outcome. Bill Nelson has a big lead at the moment and Harris will have to run an excellent campaign in order to overcome the edge that incumbents hold in Senate races.

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That depends on how closely he can be identified with Feingold, Kennedy, Kerry (who lost big time in FL in '04) and various and sundry other NE libs.

Harris ought to start pressing Nelson tomorrow morning on how he feels about censuring the President. She ought to make a big deal of every day til he answers.

"Is it true that Bill Nelson wants to co-sponor Feingold's censure." should be the question in the coffee shops in Florida tomorrow morning.

Nelson can be beaten - any of the moderates can be beaten - hang Albatross Feingold, Leaky Rockefeller and Turban Durbin around their necks and keep asking them for their "informed opinion" concering them.

Sedition isn't a winning hand in Florida. Nelson can repudiate it or wear the tag.

I perceive Katherine Harris as some sort of weirdo. She seems to live in her own little world. Am I being fair? It doesn’t really matter. I’m sure that too many other people think likewise. To be kind, Harris has an uphill battle. I want to be proven wrong. Nelson needs to be removed from office.

I perceive Katherine Harris as some sort of weirdo. She seems to live in her own little world.

First thought; she should be a shoo-in for the Senate then. She'll fit right in with the rest of the inmates.

Second, what do you base that perception on? I don't follow Florida that closely so I don't have any perceptions of Harris which are based on image.

There does seem to be a rather bizarre hostility to her by some Republicans, but I find it difficult to get to the bottom of what is behind it. Nobody ever responds to my questions with something like "I disagree with her position on taxes", or security, or Iraq, or abortion, or BCRA, or any substantive issue.

Sometimes I think R's are just as superficial and image driven as D's. Maybe BDS is not really an aberration. Maybe most people do most of their thinking with their gut.

“Second, what do you base that perception on? I don't follow Florida that closely so I don't have any perceptions of Harris which are based on image.”

I candidly concede that I may very well be mistaken. However, Harris’ run for the U.S. Senate makes no sense whatsoever. Her polling negatives are reportedly very high. She was effectively slimed for her part in the 2000 presidential vote recount. It is not fair---but that’s the way it is. Therefore, she should prudently realize that it’s best to wait for around ten years until the events of that period are a distant memory. The Florida Republican establishment has every reason to be worried.

She was effectively slimed for her part in the 2000 presidential vote recount. It is not fair---but that’s the way it is.

I don't know quite how to respond to this, David. We each are responsible for our own thoughts and actions, not anyone elses. You appear to be basing your position on your perception of what others think. And they are all presumably doing the same thing with you. "If DT thinks KH is a loser, than surely she is?"

It's irritaing to hear people say that "I myself do not feel this way, of course, but everybody else does, so therefore ...".

The Florida GOP does not have a problem with Harris. It has a problem with the Florida GOP voters who voted for her in the primary.

If I was a Florida GOP voter and noted the efforts of the FL GOP to destroy my preferred candidate and substitute their own, it would not result in any great affection for the FL GOP on my part.

If I was an independent voter in Florida and noted as an outsider that the FL GOP was treating its own candidate as a kook, I imagine I would be inclined to share that view. Surely they know their own candidate? So are preceptions born.

I've seen elements in the GOP destroy their own parties candidates many times before and throw the election to the Dem's simply because the candidate was not from their own particular Republican splinter group. That seems to be what is happening here.

If you want to know how conservative Rupublicans get crucified in the blue states, this is how its done. They are tarred as kooky, extremist, unelectable, by their own party. When your own party says these things about you it turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy.